UH OH

Microplastics found for first time in Antarctica's food chain

Microplastics have reached one of the world's most remote food systems, a new study has found. The findings raise concerns over the future of Antarctica's fragile ecosystem, which is already threatened by climate change.


For the first time, scientists have discovered microplastics inside small organisms living in the soil in Antarctica, according to a new study published on Wednesday.

"Plastics are thus entering the short Antarctic terrestrial food webs and represent a new potential stressor to polar ecosystems already facing climate change and increasing human activities," said the authors of the study, which was published in the scientific journal Biology Letters.

The research team, which was headed by Italy's University of Siena, collected organisms from a piece of polystyrene foam that was covered in moss and lichens on King George Island.

Using an infrared imaging technique, researchers found pieces of polystyrene — which is used in styrofoam — in the guts of collembolan Cryptopygus antarcticus, or springtails.

The small organisms are frequently the "dominant species" in areas of Antarctica that are not covered by ice, typically feeding on lichens and micro-algae.

Researchers said the springtails likely consumed the plastic fragments while eating their usual food.

Plastic pollution in the Antarctic terrestrial environment: (A) Coastal fellfield at King George Island where the PS foam item was collected. (B and C) close-ups of the PS surface, overgrown with microalgae, moss and lichens

Read more: The recycling dilemma: good plastic, bad plastic?

Dangers of plastic pollution

The authors of the study said the traces indicate the microplastic pollution may have already "deeply" infiltrated Antarctica's remote land-based food system.

"The implications of plastic ingestion by this species include the potential redistribution of microplastics through the soil profile and transfer to their common predators, the moss mites," Elisa Bergami of the University of Siena told news agency AFP.

Although plastic pollution in the oceans is already widely known and well-documented, Bergami said that less attention is being paid to Antarctica's land contamination.

The presence of plastics in one of the world's most remote food chains could potentially stress Antarctica's fragile ecosystem even further.

Scientific research posts, military facilities and tourism have turned the area around King George Island in the South Shetland Islands into "one of the most contaminated regions of Antarctica," researchers said.

Figure 2. Detection of PS traces in Antarctic collembolans. (a) PS fragment from positive control measured by μ-FTIR. (b) RGB image showing spectral regions of lipids (blue, 3000–2800 cm−1), proteins (green, 1700–1500 cm−1) and PS (red, peak at 1490 cm−1). The red square indicates the pixels averaged to obtain the red spectrum in (c). (c) Comparison between PS average spectra inside the collembolan (black line), hydrated PS from the positive control (red line) and PS fragment after drying (blue line). The vertical lines identify the characteristic peaks of PS. Spectra are offset vertically for clarity. (d) Collembolan analysed by μ-FTIR. (e) RGB image showing spectral regions of lipids (blue), proteins (green) and PS (red). The black rectangle indicates the pixels averaged to obtain the black spectrum in (c). Scale bars: 100 µm.

—with AFP

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WWW LINKS

Biology Letters: First evidence of polystyrene fragments inside the common Antarctic collembolan Cryptopygus antarcticus

ENRON 2.0
Wirecard committed 'elaborate and sophisticated fraud' say auditors

The auditors of Wirecard have accused it of committing an "elaborate and sophisticated fraud." The German payments provider has filed for insolvency and its CEO has been arrested.



Auditing company EY accused Wirecard of committing an "elaborate and sophisticated fraud" in comments on Thursday.

It came soon after the scandal-hit German payments provider filed for insolvency and its CEO was arrested.

"There are clear indications that this was an elaborate and sophisticated fraud involving multiple parties around the world in different institutions with a deliberate aim of deception," EY said.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on Thursday that Wirecard's debacle "must be a wake-up call that we need more oversight, more controls" over financial firms.

"The scandal is unparalleled in the financial world," Scholz added. Read more: Former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun arrested

Missing billions

EY had previously sounded the alarm during the audit of the 2019 financial statement, which showed that the firm could not account for €1.9 billion ($2.1 billion).

The €1.9 billion was supposed to have been held by two banks in the Philippines. But earlier this week the country's central bank confirmed that the money had not entered its financial system.

CEO Markus Braun was subsequently detained on suspicion of inflating the company's balance sheet and revenues to make it appear stronger and more attractive for investors and customers.

Three other managers are also under investigation.

'The moneys gone'

Wirecard's creditors have little hope of recovering some €3.5 billion euros that the firm owes, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters news agency.

"The money's gone," one banker said. "We may recoup a few euros in a couple of years but will write off the loan now."

Things also looked grim for shareholders. Wirecard shares have lost 98% of their value since EY refused to sign off on the firm's financial statement last Thursday.

German law firm Schirp & Partner told Reuters that it planned to file class actions against EY on behalf of shareholders and bondholders, now that Wirecard had gone bust.

"It is frightening how long Wirecard AG was able to operate without being objected to by the auditors," partner Wolfgang Schirp said.

Wirecard's fall from grace began last year, when a series of reports in British newspaper Financial Times uncovered accounting irregularities in its Asian operations.

Founded in 1999, the Munich-based had come to edge traditional lender Commerzbank out of the DAX 30 index and was once heralded for its innovation.

Germanys Economy Minister Peter Altmaier has called for a thorough investigation, warning that the Wirecard scandal could erode confidence in the country's finance sector.

jcg/aw (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)


Wirecard files for insolvency after financial hole laid bare
The German payment company Wirecard has said it will open insolvency proceedings after disclosing more than $2 billion dollars missing in its accounts. Trade on shares in the company was suspended.



German financial technology firm Wirecard announced Thursday it would file for insolvency amid an accounting scandal that led earlier this week to the arrest of its former CEO.

The company said it was making the filing "due to impending insolvency and debt." It will make the filing at a district court in Munich.

Read more: Scandal-hit German fintech Wirecard secures $1 billion investment

Markus Braun resigned as CEO on Friday after the company could not find roughly €1.9 billion ($2.1 billion) that appeared in its accounts. Braun later turned himself in to prosecutors after Wirecard concluded that the money probably never existed.

Trading in the group's shares was immediately halted by the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, leaving them blocked at €10.74, down 12.7% from close of trading Wednesday. Prior to the sudden scandal, it was trading just over €100.

Wirecard has become the first member of DAX, Germany's blue-chip share index, to go out of business.

The Munich prosecutor's office, which is already investigating Braun on suspicion of manipulating Wirecard"s accounts, said "We will now look at all possible criminal offenses."

Following his arrest, Braun has been released on bail.

How did Wirecard become insolvent?

Wirecard had been one of Germany's fastest-growing tech firms and was set to be a new giant in the business. The scandal has also raised questions about Germany's ability to implement corporate regulations.

Media reports in 2019 questioned the company’s accounting, but Germany's financial regulator, BaFin, targeted investors instead of the firm itself.

BaFin has described events this week surrounding Wirecard as a "disaster" but also said that it stands by its decisions.

Wirecard had been a member of the DAX index for less than two years and at its peak was worth €25 billion ($28 billion) by market capitaliztion.

ed/msh (AP, dpa)

SEE 
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/wirecard-fights-for-survival-as.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/fraud-wirecard-shares-plunge-after.html

Opinion: Coronavirus outbreak in German slaughterhouse was preventable

A major coronavirus outbreak in Europe's biggest meat-processing plant was a disaster that was bound to happen and just as preventable.



What adjective best describes a person who will risk someone else's life just to get richer? Ruthless? Unscrupulous? Hungry for money? Willing to disregard human rights, even?

The management of Tönnies, Germany's and Europe's largest meat-processing company, could certainly be labeled as such. Why? Because it has known for months how vulnerable its workers, like so many others in the meat-processing industry, are to a potential coronavirus outbreak. Yet, it did nothing to reduce the risk.

It was merely a question of time until a major outbreak would occur in the company's main slaughterhouse. Workers in this industry, who tend to hail from eastern and southern Europe and are employed by sub-contractors, often endure dismal working and living conditions. It's common for laborers butchering dead animals to work side by side, standing close to each other all day, and to share cramped living quarters, where social distancing is impossible.

Modern-day slavery

For months, human rights activists, labor rights experts and doctors have demanded that workers be given a bedroom each to reduce the risk of a coronavirus outbreak. Clearly, Tönnies managers opted against taking this basic safety precaution, as it would have slightly diminished their profits.


DW Chief Correspondent Miodrag Soric

Unlike their German colleagues, meat-processing workers from Poland, Romania and Bulgaria earn a pittance — albeit a little more than they would make in most jobs back home. Nevertheless, the dire working and living conditions they have to put up with in Germany effectively make them modern-day slaves. This is a blatant breach of the German constitution, which states that human dignity shall be inviolable. That Tönnies is exploiting these desperate people to turn a profit is simply immoral.

Read more: Schalke chief Tönnies to temporarily step down after racism row

In this light, the company's efforts with regards to animal welfare or its investment in football — Clemens Tönnies is on Bundesliga club Schalke 04's board — smack of hypocrisy. More than half the 6,000 workers at its main headquarters are employed by sub-contractors. This allows Tönnies to save labor costs, maximize profits, and enhance its competitiveness. The company has outpriced many global competitors and even exports meat to countries like Romania and China.

If you want to see the dark side of globalization, go and visit the northwestern town of Rheda-Wiedenbrück, where the company has its head office.

Public opinion is shifting

Many locals who live near the Tönnies' headquarters have cared little for the company's controversial practices. Well paid jobs in this part of the country, after all, are hard to come by. In the past, the company has exerted considerable influence on regional and local lawmakers, who turned a blind eye to the mistreatment of foreign workers.

Now, public opinion is changing. Lawmakers are distancing themselves from company boss Clemens Tönnies, as are co-owners of the high-profile company. Locals, meanwhile, are enraged because the recent virus outbreak has led to the closure of schools, preschools and kindergartens in and around Rheda-Wiedenbrück and the nearby, bigger city of Gütersloh.

Read more: Exploring old and new ideas on the future of food

What will the German federal government do? Allow Clemens Tönnies to get away with these practices? Or will it finally push for a change in Germany's agricultural sector?

It would certainly be preferable to start strengthening local, smaller slaughterhouses over major meat-processing plants, like those operated by Tönnies or Westfleisch. Yes, it would make meat more expensive. But surveys show many Germans would be willing to foot the bill.

In the end, workers must not be the ones left behind in the slaughterhouse.


Date 19.06.2020
Author Miodrag Soric
Related Subjects Coronavirus
Keywords Coronavirus, COVID-19, Tönnies, slaughterhouse, meat-processing, Gütersloh
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SLAUGHTERHOUSE COVID-19 

Germany: Over 600,000 re-enter 'soft lockdown' after Gütersloh meat plant outbreak

Two western German districts are spending their first full day back in lockdown following a fresh outbreak of COVID-19 at a meat-processing plant. Residents will return to measures first imposed in March.


Two districts in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) entered their first full day back in lockdown on Wednesday after a fresh outbreak of coronavirus resulted in new restrictions.

The new measures, dubbed "soft lockdown," saw around 640,000 people in the neighboring districts of Gütersloh and Warendorf once more unable to meet in groups larger than two outside each household.

Museums, cinemas, gyms, swimming pools and bars have all once more closed their doors. NRW State Premier Armin Laschet compared the measures to those in place when Germany first put restrictions in place in March. After some confusion, church services will be allowed to go ahead.

"It's a soft or light lockdown," said district commissioner Sven-Georg Adenauer. "It can be compared to what we had in March, but it is not extreme and will only be in place for one week."

The outbreak took place at a meat-packing plant where over 1,000 workers have tested positive for coronavirus. Some 7,000 employees have been asked to self-quarantine, most of whom live in the two districts.

'Don't stigmatize Gütersloh residents'

The new measures mark the first renewed local lockdown in Germany since restrictions across the country's 16 states began to be eased in May.

The new measures in NRW have led to calls across the country for similar local lockdowns or travel restrictions around hot spots. Austria has introduced a partial travel ban for people to and from NRW, while the northern German states of Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have done the same for residents of the districts in question.

"One thing simply won't do, and that is the stigmatization of people from Gütersloh," said Laschet, stressing that the lockdown was largely a preventative measure.

To begin with the new lockdown will only last until June 30, but it has been suggested it may be extended. Negotiations are ongoing about the status of non-residents of the districts and holidaymakers, with hopes that, if they test negative, they can return home before the lockdown ends.

Coronavirus: UN report warns pandemic has created ‘captive audience’ for terrorist groups

By Stewart Bell Global News Posted June 25, 2020

The UN Security Council meets on the situation in Syria,

 Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Mary Altaffer
The coronavirus pandemic has created a “captive audience” for terrorist groups seeking recruits, as more than a billion students are out of school and spending more time online, according to a United Nations Security Council report.

The increase in the number of young people engaging in unsupervised internet usage — particularly on gaming platforms — offers terrorist groups an opportunity to expose a greater number of people to their ideas,” the report warned.

The risk posed by violent extremist internet propaganda is one of several identified by the UN Security Council’s counter-terrorism committee in a new report on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on global terrorism.

Key among them is the exploitation of the crisis by terrorist groups, which have been using the virus and the government responses to it to feed the conspiracy theories and narratives they rely on to attract followers.

READ MORE: Searches for extremist content spiked after Canada’s coronavirus lockdown: report

At the same time, the focus on the pandemic has put pressure on counter-terrorism budgets and led to the withdrawal of troops from the fight against ISIS and al-Qaeda as well as over-reach in some countries, potentially fuelling radicalization, it said.

Researchers have reported a surge in extremism-related online traffic during the pandemic. Moonshot CVE said there had been a “significant increase” in searches for violent far-right content in Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton.

But that does not necessarily mean those conducting the internet searches are radicalized, will become radicalized or will take violent action, said Ottawa-based terrorism expert Jessica Davis.

“I think we need to be careful to differentiate between radicalization and curiosity,” said Davis, president of Insight Threat Intelligence and a former senior strategic analyst at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

“I do think it’s a tough time for everyone, and the increased isolation may increase some risk factors for radicalization,” she said. “But I’d also say a lot of other risk factors are static or, in some cases, may be decreasing.”

The counter-terrorism committee’s report noted that “COVID-19-related narratives” had already been linked to attempted attacks on hospital patients and a hospital ship in the United States. In Tunisia, a plot to infect security forces was disrupted.

Cellphone towers have also been vandalized and damaged, it said. Quebec police made two arrests in May after several cellphone towers were set on fire. Some regions are also reporting increases in hate crimes, the report said.

The report also noted the pandemic had created problems for terrorist groups. Restrictions on gathering “have resulted in far fewer crowded spaces, potentially reducing the effectiveness of common terrorist tactics,” it said.

The focus of attention on COVID-19 has also reduced media attention on terrorist attacks, giving them less impact. That could drive them to try “more attention-grabbing targets or techniques” such as last month’s attack on a Kabul maternity ward.

But the pandemic risks fuelling grievances terrorists feed upon. In some countries, governments have taken advantage of the crisis to consolidate their hold on power, arresting political opponents and curbing civil liberties, it said.

“The pandemic has also forced some states to close their parliaments and postpone or cancel elections, thereby limiting opportunities for oversight and scrutiny of those responses,” said the report, adding some countries have also invoked emergency powers and engaged in mass surveillance.

“Some states’ responses to COVID-19 risk further exacerbating conditions conducive to radicalization to terrorism.”

YEAR OF THE RAT 2020 IN CASE YOU FORGOT

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/rodent-pizza-chuck-e.html

#IMPEACHBARR
Attorney General Barr ordered antitrust probes of 10 cannabis mergers, because he dislikes the industry, prosecutor says

While these were nominally antitrust investigations, and used antitrust investigative authorities, they were not bona fide antitrust investigations,’ says John Elias

MARKETWATCH PHOTO ILLUSTRATION/GETTY IMAGES, ISTOCKPHOTO

A federal prosecutor told House lawmakers on Wednesday that Attorney General William Barr ordered antitrust staffers to investigate 10 proposed mergers in the cannabis sector because of his personal dislike of the industry.

John Elias, a member of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, told the House Judiciary Committee in prepared testimony that the investigations were carried out even after staffers had determined that the cannabis business is highly fragmented with many market participants in the states that have legalized cannabis. Read Elias’ statement.

Mergers are usually only subjected to antitrust investigations if they are likely to have an impact on competition or create a monopoly.

“While these were nominally antitrust investigations, and used antitrust investigative authorities, they were not bona fide antitrust investigations,” said Elias. “Nonetheless, they accounted for 29% of the Antitrust Division’s full-review merger investigations in Fiscal Year 2019.”
The testimony is part of the committee’s probe into whether the Justice Department under Barr has been improperly politicized. Elias and Aaron Zelinsky, a career Justice Department prosecutor, were subpoenaed by House Democrats to testify. Zelinsky worked on cases as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, including the case against Roger Stone, an ally of President Donald Trump.

See now:Career prosecutor set to tell Congress that Trump ally Roger Stone got special treatment from the Justice Department

Elias explained that the antitrust division’s manual instructs staffers to first look at market share as an indicator of whether a deal needs to get routine clearance or be subjected to the fullest review, by issuing what is called a “Second Request” subpoena. Typically, a company would need at least double-digit market share to merit that subpoena, which can lead to demands for hundreds of thousands or even millions of documents.

See also:Mueller said to have weighed possibility Trump lied in written responses to investigators

Merging companies must comply with a Second Request subpoena, as they cannot close a deal until they have complied.

The prosecutor said in the case of a review of a proposed merger between cannabis retailer MedMen Enterprises Inc. and PharmaCann LLC, staffers found the deal did not raise any significant competitive concerns. But on March 5, 2019, Barr called the antitrust division leadership to his office and ordered them to issue Second Request subpoenas. The division went ahead and did so and said the reason was that it had not “evaluated this industry before.”

“This rationale — standing alone, without reference to a competition problem — is not described in the Merger Guidelines as a basis for investigating a transaction,” said Elias.

The companies were then asked to provide 1.3 million documents from the files of 40 employees. The investigation then found that the markets were indeed “unconcentrated” and was closed without enforcement action. By then, however, the deal had collapsed with MedMen citing delays in obtaining regulatory approval. The company’s stock price had lost about a third of its value while the investigation was being conducted.

See also:U.S. pot retailer MedMen says it’s trying to use stock to pay its bills amid cannabis industry’s cash crunch

The antitrust division went on to investigate another nine deals, including one in which staffers determined the post-merger market share would be just 0.35%, said Elias.

When prosecutors brought their concerns to the head of the Antitrust Division, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim, he responded by saying the investigations were motivated “by the fact that the cannabis industry is unpopular ‘on the fifth floor,’” a reference to Barr’s offices in the DOJ headquarters building.
“Personal dislike of the industry is not a proper basis upon which to ground an antitrust investigation,” said Elias.

Barr said in April of 2019 that he would “favor one uniform federal rule against marijuana but, if there is not sufficient consensus to obtain that, then I think the way to go is to permit a more federal approach so states can make their own decisions within the framework of the federal law and so we’re not just ignoring the enforcement of federal law,” he said.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

MedMen shares MMNFF, -5.83% were last trading at 23 cents, and have lost 56.5% in 2020 to date.

The Cannabis ETF THCX, -1.60% was down 4% Wednesday, and has lost 22.5% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 SPX, 0.14% has fallen 5.7%.

Trump’s July 4 trip to Mount Rushmore draws sharp criticism from Native Americans

Many Native Americans activists say the Rushmore memorial is as reprehensible as the many Confederate monuments being toppled around the nation

Published: June 25, 2020  By Associated Press

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s plans to kick off Independence Day with a showy display at Mount Rushmore are drawing sharp criticism from Native Americans who view the monument as a desecration of land violently stolen from them and used to pay homage to leaders hostile to native people.

Several groups led by Native American activists are planning protests for Trump’s July 3 visit, part of Trump’s “comeback” campaign for a nation reeling from sickness, unemployment and, recently, social unrest. The event is slated to include fighter jets thundering over the 79-year-old stone monument in South Dakota’s Black Hills and the first fireworks display at the site since 2009.

But it comes amid a national reckoning over racism and a reconsideration of the symbolism of monuments around the globe. Many Native American activists say the Rushmore memorial is as reprehensible as the many Confederate monuments being toppled around the nation.

“Mount Rushmore is a symbol of white supremacy, of structural racism that’s still alive and well in society today,” said Nick Tilsen, a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe and the president of a local activist organization called NDN Collective. “It’s an injustice to actively steal Indigenous people’s land then carve the white faces of the conquerors who committed genocide.”
While some activists, like Tilsen, want to see the monument removed altogether and the Black Hills returned to the Lakota, others have called for a share in the economic benefits from the region and the tourists it attracts.

Trump has long shown a fascination with Mount Rushmore. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said in 2018 that he had once told her straight-faced it was his dream to have his face carved into the monument. He later joked at a campaign rally about getting enshrined alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. And while it was Noem, a Republican, who pushed for a return of the fireworks on the eve of Independence Day, Trump joined the effort and committed to visiting South Dakota for the celebration.

The four faces, carved into the mountain with dynamite and drills, are known as the “shrine to democracy.” The presidents were chosen by sculptor Gutzon Borglum for their leadership during four phases of American development: Washington led the birth of the nation; Jefferson sparked its westward expansion; Lincoln preserved the union and emancipated slaves; Roosevelt championed industrial innovation.

And yet, for many Native American people, including the Lakota, Cheyenne, Omaha, Arapaho, Kiowa and Kiowa-Apache, the monument is a desecration to the Black Hills, which they consider sacred. Lakota people know the area as Paha Sapa — “the heart of everything that is.”

As monuments to Confederate and colonial leaders have been removed across U.S. cities, conservatives have expressed concern that Mount Rushmore could be next. Commentator Ben Shapiro this week suggested that the “woke historical revisionist priesthood” wanted to blow up the monument. Noem responded by tweeting, “Not on my watch.”

Tim Giago, a journalist who is a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe, said he doesn’t see four great American leaders when he looks at the monument, but instead four white men who either made racist remarks or initiated actions that removed Native Americans from their land. Washington and Jefferson both held slaves. Lincoln, though he led the abolition of slavery, also approved the hanging of 38 Dakota men in Minnesota after a violent conflict with white settlers there. Roosevelt is reported to have said, “I don’t go so far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every ten are..”
The monument has long been a “Rorschach test,” said John Taliaferro, author of “Great White Fathers,” a history of the monument. “All sorts of people can go there and see it in different ways.”

The monument often starts conversations on the paradox of American democracy — that a republic that promoted the ideals of freedom, determination and innovation also enslaved people and drove others from their land, he said.

“If we’re having this discussion today about what American democracy is, Mount Rushmore is really serving its purpose because that conversation goes on there,” he said. “Is it fragile? Is it permanent? Is it cracking somewhat?”

The monument was conceived in the 1920s as a tourist draw for the new fad in vacationing called the road trip. South Dakota historian Doane Robinson recruited Borglum, one of the preeminent sculptors at the time, to abandon his work creating the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial in Georgia, which was to feature Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and Stonewall Jackson.

Borglum was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, according to Mount Rushmore historian and writer Tom Griffith. Borglum joined the Klan to raise money for the Confederate memorial, and Griffith argues his allegiance was more practical than ideological. He left that project and instead spent years in South Dakota completing Mount Rushmore.

Native American activists have long staged protests at the site to raise awareness among the history of the Black Hills, which were taken from them despite treaties with the United States protecting the land. Fifty years ago this summer a group of activists associated with an organization called United Native Americans climbed to the top of the monument and occupied it.

Quanah Brightman, who now runs United Native Americans, said the activism in the 1970s grew out of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. He hopes a similar movement for Native Americans comes from the Black Lives Matter movement.

“What people find here is the story of America — it’s multidimensional, it’s complex,” Griffith said. “It’s important to understand it was people just trying to do right as best they knew it then.”

The White House had no immediate comment on criticism of the president’s planned visit.

RODENT PIZZA

Chuck E. Cheese parent CEC Entertainment files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

WORST PIZZA EVER NO GREAT LOSS

Published: June 25, 2020  Ciara Linnane

CEC Entertainment Inc., the parent of Chuck E. Cheese and Peter Piper Pizza, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy late Wednesday, weighed down by restaurant closures during the coronavirus pandemic. The company said it will use the time to continue talks with its financial stakeholders, including landlords, to "achieve a comprehensive balance sheet restructuring that supports its re-opening and longer-term strategic plans." As of June 24, 266 company-operated restaurant and arcade venues had reopened for business. The company is expecting to keep these venues open through Chapter 11 and to offer dine-in, delivery and take-out services. The company's non-U.S. franchise partners and corporate entities are not included in the process.

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/rat-horoscope-2020-free-astrology.html

Infectious-disease expert says we’re thinking too much about a second wave of COVID-19 when it’s really more like a forest fire

Published: June 23, 2020  By Tim Rostan

‘I think that wherever there is wood to burn, this fire is going to burn’: Dr. Michael Osterho

Print iconn much the way onlookers can get overly invested in describing the specific status of a market cycle or an economic recession or recovery as if it were an inning of a baseball game — generally leaving aside the fact that extra innings are always a possibility — we’ve gotten too caught up in the wave metaphor as representative of a country’s or region’s pandemic experience, says one noted infectious-disease expert.

‘I think this is more like a forest fire. I don’t think this is going to slow down. ... I think that wherever there is wood to burn, this fire is going to burn, and right now we have a lot of susceptible people.’— Dr. Michael Osterholm, Center of Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota

The wave language, said Osterholm, is drawn from the pattern of influenza outbreaks, in which an initial case load is traditionally followed by a lull and then a secondary and perhaps tertiary outbreak, whereas in this coronavirus pandemic the U.S. is still seeing daily case tallies trend upward in dozens of states on a regular basis, some 104 days after the World Health Organization formally made its pandemic call. “I’m not sure the influenza analogy applies anymore,” he said. “I don’t think we’re going to see one, two and three waves — I think we’re just going to see one very, very difficult forest fire of cases.”


Dr. Michael Osterholm leads the Center of Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. CIDRAP/UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

Don’t miss:Yes, America needs to brace itself for a secnd wave of coronavirus

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